Brown Company of Berlin NH
Chlorine and Caustic Soda Tank Car Fleet

Introduction

Berlin, NH, hosted an extensive woodpulp and papermaking industry during the 20th century. The primary concern was the Berlin Mills Company, which became the Brown Company around the time of WWI. Circa 1920, the company introduced chlorine and caustic soda production as Brown began to manufacture white paper, in addition to the earlier kraft and former newsprint product line. Using the chloralkalai process (and thus a source of the mercury contamination of the Androscoggin River,) these chemicals were produced simultaneously from the electrolysis of common salt, NaCl. Once the production equipment was in place, Brown began to offer the chemicals to other paper manufacturers and industrial concerns and, in order to ship the chemicals, began to acquire a small fleet of often specialized tank cars for the purpose, using reporting marks BCX.

The Cars

Beginning in 1918, the Interstate Commerce Commission would allow chlorine to be shipped as a liquid at high pressure in insulated tank cars. Such cars were required to have a welded tank and be tested to 500 p.s.i.. As chlorine is denser than water, the cars were smaller volume than general service cars, further reduced by an initial limit to 15 tons lading. Rather than an expansion dome, chlorine tanks had a 'bonnet' to enclose the high pressure valves; no bottom outlet was provided. Some customers, who found it advantageous, could also receive product in detachable chlorine "tons", independent units of a little less than 200 gallons each, shipped on dedicated underframes outfitted with racks for 15 such small tanks. These multiple-unit cars were first placed in service in America in 1922.¹

Caustic soda, aka lye, can be shipped as a liquid solution and, at high concentrations, must be kept warm to prevent it from "flaking." However, it can be loaded in unlined steel tank cars. Steam heat coils could provide the proper temperature for the lading.

Brown Co. had facilities to maintain their extensive fleet of wood rack cars and box cars to serve their pulp and paper business. Hence, the company appears to have converted a number of wood racks into "Compartment tank" cars, of 1,000 gallon capacity. Photos of these cars have yet to surface. It is unknown precisely what they were used to transport: chlorine was often transported in small cylinders, but the cars may also have been intended for caustic soda or yet other commodities.

Around the same time as the conversions, Brown turned to the American Car & Foundry Company for their first high pressure, insulated cars for liquid chlorine service, two nominal 3,000 gallon cars. Soon after, they acquired a number of general service tank cars from unknown sources, but likely General American Tank Co., two each of 8,000 and 10,000 gallon capacities, believed to be primarily intended for caustic soda service. Their next chlorine cars also came from an unknown source, again, likely built by GATC, but those 4,000 gallon cars would remain an outlier for a number of years. From 1926 until the Depression years, all BCX tank cars, with one exception and two additional 'compartment tank' conversions, would come from AC&F, including additional 3,000 gallon cars, a small number of larger 6,000 gallon chlorine cars, and a modest number of the multiple unit tank cars described above. Little is known of the exception, other than that it was a 5,000 gallon, glass lined car built by GATC.

Tank car acquisitions after the Depression began did continue, but data is lacking. Additional 3,000 gallon chlorine cars arrived, as did a number of 6-, 8-, and 10,000 gallon cars for which the full details have not yet been uncovered; one, at least, is known to be secondhand. Car classes were diverse, with designations including TG, TM, and TPI.

Table 1: BCX tank cars

Figure 1: The 600-784 and 1054-1103 series of "Gondola, Coal, Wood Rack" cars, 5 of which were converted to "Compartment Tanks" cars in the 1920's, had identical dimensions. Car 626 is an example of an unrebuilt car with one side door: note the low solid sides comprising the gondola portion, while the slatted racks above allowed the cars to haul a greater volume of pulpwood. The appearance of the converted cars with their 1000 gallon "compartment tank" is unknown. Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Figure 2: Tank car 1104, the first new car for liquid chlorine service, arrived at the end of 1923 and is shown here on 8/17/1925. The placard identifies that the car is in leased service to Parker-Young Company, the large pulp and paper operation in Lincoln, NH, on the other side of the White Mountains from Brown Co. Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Figure 3: Tank car 1105 was delivered on the same order as 1104. The two were ARA Specification V cars as seen in this ACF builders photo; subsequent chlorine cars were designated as the updated I.C.C. Class 105. AC&F photo

Figure 4: This drawing was published in the 1925 Car Builders Cyclopedia. It depicts the design and construction of cars 1104 and 1105. AC&F Drawing published by Simmons-Boardman, courtesy University of Michigan and Hathitrust

Figure 5: Tank car 1109 was rebuilt by Brown in Aug 1930, originally constructed in about 1924. The underframe suggests a GATC origin, but the seemingly mismatched tank appears similar to that which would have been installed on an AC&F Type 21 tank car. It is known that AC&F supplied brand new 70 ton trucks to Brown for their project. Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Figure 6: Looking well used, perhaps for liquid caustic, evidenced by the white overflow, 1109 can be seen here on 8/13/1957. The minimal lettering and poor maintenance, such as the wood blocking atop the truck springs, suggest the car is no longer in interchange service. Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Figure 7: The ends of cars 1113 and 1115 peek out from the Brown Co. loading shed. These cars MAY have been produced by GATC. No date. Cropped from original at: Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Figure 8: 1115, with nearly illegible tank stenciling, and another of the 1110-1116 series of 4000 gallon chlorine cars appear in this view taken at an unknown date. Given the arch bar trucks and inadequate lettering, yet the later tank paint scheme, this may be a postwar image of the cars now in company service. Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Figure 9: AC&F-built, multiple unit tank car 1117 is seen coupled to another such car produced by a different company under a "loading platform," now missing a considerable amount of the railing, awaiting the return of the chlorine "tons" carried on these. No date. Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Figures 10 & 11: Brown Co. would go on to acquire a total of 7 of these AC&F multiple unit tank cars. AC&F Company, courtesy Ray Breyer and the Barriger Collection, respectively.

Figure 12: The 15 one-ton-unit tank car for liquid chlorine was first placed into service in 1922. Drawings of the AC&F cars that Brown received were not published widely in the 1920's, but would appear later. This drawing was included in the 1943 Car Builders' Cyclopedia and, other than more modern brake equipment, appears in most respects to match the Brown Co. rolling stock. AC&F Drawing published by Simmons-Boardman, courtesy Newton K. Gregg/Publisher.

Figure 13: Another chlorine car in the loading shed, 1124 remains in its original paint scheme in the 1930's. Cropped from original at: Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Figure 14: This image shows car 1126's original paint scheme in 1928. 1122-26 constituted Brown's second order of AC&F 3,000 gallon chlorine tank cars, although it appears to have been delivered as two distinct groups. AC&F Company, courtesy Ray Breyer

Figure 15: This photo shows 1126 in the later paint scheme, as well as SERX 1001, a Niagara Smelting insulated, pressure tank car, and another unknown chlorine car on 12/2/1953. Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Figure 16: This General Arrangement drawing of AC&F ICC-105A class, Type 27 tank cars, was published in the 1931 and later Car Builders Cyclopedias. While this particular version does not depict the 3,000 gallon chlorine car design represented by BCX cars 1122-1126, later updates included such a car. It does, however, show features and dimensions for the 6,000 gallon cars, 1128-1130. AC&F Drawing published by Simmons-Boardman

Figure 17: Brown Co. acquired its first of three ~6,000 gallon chlorine car in Nov 1928 from AC&F, presumably to meet the needs of customers desiring a greater quantity of product. 1128 appears in the loading shed in this undated photo believed to be from the 1930's or 1940's. Cropped from original at: Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Figure 18: BCX 1129 was the second ~6,000 gallon Type 27 car from AC&F in 1929. AC&F Company.

Figure 19: BCX 1129 can be seen in its later repainted scheme. Undated, this may be a postwar image given the condition of car 1115. Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Figure 20: BCX 1130 was the third of the ~6,000 gallon cars. Built 10/1930, the car is shown here ca. 1936 leased to the S.D.Warren Co., Cumberland Mills, ME. Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Figure 21: BCX 1143, shown here on 11/25/1964, was undoubtably acquired second hand. Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Figures 22 & 23: Details of the damage to car 1143, 3/11/1958. Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection and here

Figure 24: This view shows two Brown Co. AC&F-built chlorine cars, perhaps 3,000 gallon, being unloaded at the Burgess Sulphite mill, on 10/7/1957. Plymouth State University, Brown Company Collection

Car Use and Taxation

The State of NH, like many others, elected to tax private car line valuations. These were computed by calculating the ratio of a firm's private car miles run within the bounds of the state to the total of those run throughout the country, and multiplying that by the value of the firm's private rolling stock. Because the Brown Company tank car fleet may have predominately served New England customers, despite their small absolute number, and the company's pulpwood racks would not have traveled extensively outside the north country, it ranked as the very highest payee of private car line taxes to the state government during the period from 1920 to 1939.

Notes

1) Industry trade publications highlighted the development of these multiple-unit tank cars. Initially, they were deemed a tank car by the railroads for billing purposes, but only two months after their adoption, the railroads changed tack by billing the cars' movements as loaded in both directions by claiming the detachable "tons" to be part of the lading, much like drums and barrels carried in other cars, and for which they could also charge based on the weight of. Furthermore, the railroads were also interested in avoiding the multiple unit cars being moved at carload rates, only to have multiple customers in a switching district be able to receive less-than-carload amounts for only a modest additional shipping charge assessed. A chemical company, Mathieson Alkali Works, pressed their case to the I.C.C., who found for the shippers late in 1923 by determining that the tanks were to be considered the cars' superstructure mounted on an underframe that was otherwise unsuitable for any other cargo. Multiple-unit tank cars were tank cars.

Sources

Car Builders' Cyclopedia of American Practice ( Eleventh Edition, 1925 ; Thirteenth Edition, 1931; Sixteenth Edition, 1943). New York: Simmons-Boardman Publishing Company.
Portions of Sixteenth Edition republished as: Train Shed Cyclopedia, No.71 (1978). Rohnert Park, CA: Newton K. Gregg/Publisher.

Interstate Commerce Commission, Rate Case #13895 (1924). Interstate Commerce Commission Reports: Reports and Decisions of the Interstate Commerce Commission of the United States, Volume 85, page 728. Washington: Goverment Printing Office. Accessed online

Kipp, L.E., Agent (Issued 5/26/36, effective 7/5/1936.) Freight Tariff No 300-A, Showing Capacities of Tank Cars used in the Transportation of Freight. Chicago.
Republished: Cranstone, Ian (2014.)

Kaminski, Edward S. (2003). Tank Cars, American Car & Foundry Company, 1865-1955. Wilton, CA: Signature Press.

Official Railway Equipment Register (8/1923, 5/1925, 4/1926, 10/1926, 3/1928, 12/1930, 7/1931, 3/1932, 7/1934, 7/1935, 7/1938, 7/1941, 1/1947, 1/1953). New York: The Railway Equipment and Publication Co..

Railway Age (Jan 1927, Jan 1928, Jan 1929, Jan 1930, Jan 1931, Jan 1932.) Note: no Brown Co. orders listed in Railway Age for 1923, 1924, 1925, and 1926.

Wells, H.P., H.M.Mabey, and J.M.Rowland (1926). Transportation of Liquefied Chlorine Gas. Transactions of the American Electrochemical Society, Vol 49, page 43. Chicago: Columbia University. Accessed online

Anonymous (1925). I.C.C. Approves Use of Multiple Unit Tank Car. National Petroleum News, Vol 17, No. 49, page 39. Cleveland: National Petroleum Publishing Company. Accessed online

Thank you to Dave Bott, Don Hensley, Dave Parker, Douglas van Veelen, Al Westerfield, and the B&M RR Historical Society for supplying ORER data. Thank you to Ray Breyer for AC&F Builders photos, Ed Hawkins and Al Westerfield for AC&F Lots data, and Dave Parker for further Car 1109 analysis. Special thanks to Plymouth State University for access to the Brown Company photographic collection.

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Posted 4/5/24.  Updated 11/17/2024  Maintained by Earl Tuson